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Willy Snyder
PO Box 2732
Pocatello, ID 83206
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Sounds like a steamer!
When water turns into steam, it is dramatic, and definately steam.
All it would take to make the steam explosion you described would be a single drop.
The piece of lead would have been submerged, and expansion would have been radical, and complete.
He is lucky he made it.
Yes, that was the Tinsel Fairy.
Almost as bad as the Fecal Fairy, although both can visit at the same time.

It sure sounds like your friend got a visit from the tinsel fairy. Hope he isn't too badly burned. Safest thing to do is put lead in pot, then add heat. This lets the water evaporate as the lead heats and prevents the problem of tinsel fairy visits. Even if WW appear dry, they can harbor enough water between the lead and the clip (in that little bitty crack) to be explosive if dropped in a pot of liquid lead.

First off I have never seen a live WW. If he filled the pot up and started smelting I don't think it was steam. If he was dumping stuff in after he had all ready melted lead in the bottom of the pot then that is the problem. If he was melting also melting range pickup could have neen a loaded round - really doubt it - but it also could have been a hollow point that had water in the tip or an incindiary/tracer round that hadn't cooked off when fired. I personally wouldn't reccomend melting WWs, range scrap, and lead bars together because you don't know what you have as far as alloying.

I asked if there was molten lead in the bottom while he was dumping more in... A = Yes

I asked if the lead WWs might have been wet... A = they were stored inside his garage for 5 years and didn't think so.

The live rounds he said were in the same bucket as the lead, but he assured me that he "thought" he had separated them all.

Now, I've had .45 ammo explode outside of the chamber and it's not very impressive so my guess was wet lead at first, but the way he described it, the lead went 6 ft into the air, landed on his head and back. He heard the explosion as he was turning away from the pot, and went into the standing Fetal position.

He was not burned badly, bud did get blisters on the top of the head where it landed. He will be wearing safety glasses from now on and will put a lid on the pot in the future.

I just added a sliding lid to my smelting pot for heat retention, but see it has a dual purpose.

I smelted some sticky backs the other day by filling the pot and melting it. They have water in the bottom of the 5 gal bucket and I had read here that if you start with them in the pot and turn the burner on you are OK. I was OK as nothing happened. I did add some after it started to melt (hard to see a half empty pot and not want to fill it) but stopped when I got to wet WWs. I for sure will not push my luck again in that way though.

A live round exploding in the air isn't impressive because air pressure isn't high enough to stop the case from expanding, freeing the bullet and allowing the pressure to vent very quickly. I've seen tests where 30-06 and .45 ACP cartridges were put on a hot plate and covered with a corrugated cardboard box. When they cooked off the fragments very rarely penetrated the box. A lot of time the powder barely burned because the pressure never got high enough.

Not saying it wouldn't cause personal damage, especially to the eyes, but its probably not gonna kill you.

A live round submerged in lead is already under a lot higher pressure by a dense fluid that would resist expansion and gas venting long enough for most of the powder to burn and a massive gas bubble to form. Bingo, Mt. Saint Helens in your face.

But it could have been steam too. Hard to call unless you could find the case floating in the melt with an intact primer.

I am now in full production of top punches for Lyman/RCBS and Saeco lubers ($8 each including shipping, two business day turnaround), and blank sizing dies for Lyman/RCBS, Saeco, Herters, and Star machines. Other products will be added as time and health permit. PM me for details.

I finished casting and threw a bunch of reject boolits off my bench into the pot. Included was a 38 primed nickel case. It went boom-splat about then same time as i was walking back into the house. I believe the lead was dry and the empty case had to have had an active primer. it soesn't take much.

As noted, yes to both. One reason I routinely sort range scrap & even ww. I had a metal valve stem pop & make a small mess in a smelt. It probably had a bit of moisture trapped in it. I also put the heavy cast irom lid on the pot immediately after adding more metal, just in case.

Now you know how people double charge cases: the same indifference to the hazards at hand. BvT

Every lawbreaker we allow into our nation, or tolerate in our citizen population leads to the further escalation of law breaking of all kinds and acceptance of evil.
Since almost all aspects of our cultural existence are LIBERAL in most states, this means that the nation is on a trajectory to dissolution by the burden of toleration and acceptance of LAWBREAKING as a norm, a trajectory back to the dark ages of history.

i once grabbed a fist full of commercially cast, 230 grain round nose bullets i had pulled from 45 colt brass into the pot. Missing the small pieces of Unique stuck to the bottom of them, boy was that a suprise when my pot lit on FIRE! Startling to say the least.

Μολὼν λάβε

Lord, make me fast and accurate. Let my aim be true and my hand faster than those who would seek to destroy me. Grant me victory over my foes and those that wish to harm to me and mine. Let not my last thought be “If only I had my gun”; and Lord if today is truly the day that You call me home, let me die in a pile of brass.

With my limited casting, have not had a visit from the tinsel fairy yet. However, back about '73 I worked in a factory making wheelweights. The molds were 4 pieces, two front and 2 back. Occasionally a blob would keep the mold from closing completely. When the molten metal was injected under pressure, it would fly 10-15 feet. Had a pair of jeans that still had lead stuck to them when they wore out 10 years later. Also had side shields on my glasses that were buggered by molten lead.

How I would love to have a pallet or two of those pigs now. They were about 80-85 lbs each. About 20-25 pigs per pallet.

Last edited by ulav8r; 04-15-2010 at 03:59 PM.
Reason: corrected spelling of blob